1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and system for collecting and classifying computer network traffic, particularly Internet traffic. Specifically, the method and system of the invention characterize the interaction between users and web sites to facilitate construction of more accurate online behavior profiles for marketing purposes.
2. Discussion of the Background
The Internet has rapidly grown into a center for conducting commerce with unprecedented efficiency and commercial advantage; however, the Internet also presents numerous new challenges to the development and execution of appropriate business models and processes. To design and implement effective marketing and business plans, companies need to gain a better understanding of consumer behavior and preferences while they are conducting Internet commerce.
Behavior profiles are created using network usage data collected through various methods. Once the data is collected, it is analyzed to determine the behavior of a particular user. In order to create an accurate behavior profile, it is useful to generalize Internet usage by identifying the types of Web sites a particular type of user accesses and the way that type of user accesses a particular type of Web site.
For example, it would be valuable to a merchant to know that users from a geographical area regularly purchase books from a merchant with a website, for example, Amazon.com™. However, there is a need for more generalized data, than that which is specific to a particular merchant. It is desirable to have a system that can create what are known as “generalized behavior profiles.” By generalized behavior profile is meant a collection of data that describes the attributes and usage patterns of online shoppers, but does not contain personally identifiable information of such online shoppers. More specifically, it is valuable to know that users in a particular geographical area regularly conduct electronic commerce by accessing online catalog and shopping sites by following links on a Web portal site.
To build accurate generalized behavior profiles, it is desirable to know typical behaviors and actions that lead up to a purchase. For example, it would be desirable to know that many users searched one online merchant site for books to purchase and then went to a different online merchant site to make the actual purchase. For the specific merchant whose site was used for browsing, this information indicates that the site is successful in attracting potential shoppers, but perhaps prices need to be more competitive to retain those initially coming to the site. More generally, this information may indicate that price is a factor which overrides factors such as convenience and functionality of a website in the decisions of similar consumers.